<p>UC Berkeley is a wonderful school, but I heard that grade deflation is harsh on science and engineering students. I want to obtain a BS, Masters in Chemistry and move onto law school to pursue patent law. With all of the unemployed lawyers / attorneys these days, it's best to graduate from a top 10/15 law school, so I am wondering whether Berkeley's grade deflation in the sciences wil negatively impact me as a pre-law / law school applicant looking into such law schools. </p>
<p>I have a 4.1 UCGPA, Cumulative 3.56/4.1 GPA, 700M 760CR 800W (2260) SAT I, 770 USH, 770 Chem, 790 Bio, 800 MathIIC SAT II's with strong EC's in leadership, piano, etc. </p>
<p>Schools I'm looking into / applying for:
Johns Hopkins (ED)
USC
Tufts University
UC Berkeley
UC LA
UC SD
UC Davis</p>
<p>1) Considering grade deflation/inflation, which would actually be best to attend if I am looking into law school afterward? </p>
<p>2) Should I be looking for a school with a good chemistry department or pre-law advising?</p>
<p>3) Can anyone suggest a school to apply RD too >>when<< Hopkins rejects me that would be good in chemistry and / or pre-law advising?</p>
<p>My hunch is that the odds you will actually become a patent attorney are no better than 1 in 10. Thus, planning your UG career based primarily on that assumption isn’t a good move, IMO.Moreover, there is no guarantee that the LS admissions process will be the same as it is today when you apply 4 + years from now.</p>
<p>Additionally, the quality of pre-law advising is really not important. Oh, it helps to have someone who has a clue as to how to write a good personal statement, but you can figure it out for yourself by reading Montauk & Klein and other books. 80% or more of LS admissions is about two numbers: LSAT and GPA. The best pre-law adviser out there isn’t going to enable you to change those two #s, so the quality of advising will have almost no impact on your results. </p>
<p>As for which colleges offer a good education in chemistry, the law board is not the best place to ask that question. But asking that question is a more logical way of deciding which college to attend than the quality of pre-law advising. </p>
<p>My understanding is that the ranking of the law school you attend is less important for patent attorneys than for other attorneys. The quality of your UG/masters education in science will be important. </p>
<p>So, if I were you, I’d focus on finding a college that’s a good fit for you in terms of the quality of the chemistry department and the social scene and ignore the law school part of the equation.</p>
<p>All sciences are tough on grades, regardless of college. Hopkins has a huge premed class, all taking Chem, all looking for A’s. I’m not sure that it will be all that grade-friendly. OTOH, ED should do the trick.</p>
<p>Cal has a mean gpa of ~3.3, but that includes all of the liberal arts courses. Engineering is particularly tough, but you should have no trouble if you are accepted into Chem. (The College of Chem is awesome.) But, your gpa is probably too low to be a competitive candidate if you are unhooked.</p>
<p>Also consider USC which loves high test scores, and will give you money if you are NMSF.</p>